Apparatus for steam pasteurization of food

An apparatus for pasteurizing meat, comprising:

• (a) a steam chamber defining an entrance opening and an exit opening, the steam chamber further comprising:
• an entrance door structure to nominally close the entrance opening of the steam chamber;
• an exit door structure to nominally close the exit opening of the steam chamber;
• each of the entrance and exit door structures comprising a plurality of closely adjacent, vertically arranged door segments;
• a mounting structure to mount the segments of the entrance door structure and exit door structure to allow the door segments to move independently of each other between open and closed positions;
• and
• closures for urging the door structure segments in nominally closed position;
• and
• (b) a cooling station near an exit opening of the steam chamber for rapidly chilling the surface of the meat heated by the steam within the steam chamber.